How to workout using your furniture

Time to ditch that old excuse, ‘I have no time to go to the gym!’. In this post, I thought it’d be a cool idea to come up with a few workouts that you can do in the comfort of your own home. I assume everyone has some form of furniture so I don’t want anyone rushing off to Dunelm in a panic, no matter how enthusiastic you are! For this you need: a chair, sofa, stairs and a wall. If you live in a bungalow, you can always do jumping squats as an alternative. So anyway, let’s give this a go!

CHAIR TRICEP DIPS INTO FLUTTER KICKS

Firstly, make sure your chair is a sturdy one! I don’t want to be responsible for broken furniture or even worse, broken bones!

Method: Get into a tricep dip position with hands by your sides, keeping your elbows nice and narrow close to your ribs. Dip down so your elbows reach 90°, dip back to the starting position with slightly bent arms, then kick each leg making sure you alternate.

STAIR FROG JUMPS

Probably a good idea to do this when everyone is out. I can imagine you’d look an absolute muppet doing this up the stairs if anyone was going to walk in on you! Also, as I mentioned before, if you live in a bungalow – change this to regular jump squats.

Method: This mirrors the jumps squat, you can use one step at a time or two steps at a time depending on how hard you would like the intensity to be. Jump from step to step really bending the legs and keep the back nice and straight.

CHAIR INTO/OUT CRUNCHES

Lets get that chair out again (doesn’t matter if this one isn’t sturdy!) Give yourself lots of room too!

Method: Simply perform a crunch, moving your feet in and out of the chair legs. In one crunch, your feet will go inside the chair legs. The next, your feet will go wide of the chair legs.

WALL SIT

It’s as simple as that. Find a wall and sit. Whack the tele on, engage in conversation, just don’t leave that position!

Method: Slide down the wall (raunchy!) until your back is flat. Ensure your knees are at 90° and make sure your feet are shoulder width apart. Hold that position for as long as you can, maximising your glutes strength.

PUSH-UPS TO SOFA TOUCH

This is one for the living room. You can also manage this without blocking the TV, so this is a bonus for other family members!

Method: This exercise can be done on the knees or the feet. As your arms extend touch the sofa with each hand.

So there you have it, my quick guide to working out from your own home! Hope this inspires you guys to have a go, make sure you send me pictures of your home workouts to @JackCardy on Twitter!